I really wish the software developers of the big cad tools like SW and Creo would develop more into the core rendering tools than they do. Interface designers say 'expose more of the tool' indicating it's just an interface thing. The render engine for Creo is now Mental ray and using that in Maya I can see 70 options for leather. In Creo and SW there is less than 5 settings for the same tool.

Reviving this topic as I'm starting to look at alternatives to Bunkspeed/Visualize. While that engine has been my preference for a few years it definitely has its limitations, the largest of which being a very homogenous look to most of the renders you get out of it. Until you really dig into and tweak a scene most materials are extremely plastic-y, and it has a habit of rendering soft shadows as large blobs of grey (similar to something you would create in Photoshop with a heavy gaussian blur.) I'm also less than stoked on Dassault axing the entirety of the Bunkspeed materials, support, and forum archives, which were really helpful.

The most useful features I've found from Bunkspeed, and what have kept me running a legacy version post-Dassault buyout, are GPU rendering (both real-time and final image) and the ability to queue up multiple renders to process all at once, rather than setting up and rendering each image separately. If there's something out there with these features and potentially better quality, I'd be willing to take a look.

I haven't found anything better than Keyshot. And as with all rendering packages, the standard features are not enough as good renders require lots of preparation. In Keyshot you can modify a lot - customize HDRI environments, you can add lights to manipulate shadows, do a flat render for manipulation of individual parts in photoshop, basic animations, while keeping a good overview through the scene hierarchy which preserves the imported model's hierarchy.

The only thing bothering me about Keyshot which I haven't solved yet is how to work with geometry -spheres and planes- as emissive lights. Even with a high (40) sample amount and ray bounces you get dots in less lit places, for example with vehicles underneath edges and near the end of the light falloff. In animations these dots flicker so the whole approach does not work - If anyone has a solution it would be great.

ralphzoontjens wrote:I haven't found anything better than Keyshot. And as with all rendering packages, the standard features are not enough as good renders require lots of preparation. In Keyshot you can modify a lot - customize HDRI environments, you can add lights to manipulate shadows, do a flat render for manipulation of individual parts in photoshop, basic animations, while keeping a good overview through the scene hierarchy which preserves the imported model's hierarchy.

The only thing bothering me about Keyshot which I haven't solved yet is how to work with geometry -spheres and planes- as emissive lights. Even with a high (40) sample amount and ray bounces you get dots in less lit places, for example with vehicles underneath edges and near the end of the light falloff. In animations these dots flicker so the whole approach does not work - If anyone has a solution it would be great.

Hi Ralph,

You might want to bump up the Global illumination setting. It could also be a tessalation problem. And if it is purely on the ground, then it could be a problem with ground size/shadow quality.

Hi, Thanks. Amping up the GI +raybounces does help but does not solve it completely. I will try different tessellation qualities soon and let you know the test results, once I have the time since this is a 1+Gb Keyshot file. For now I solved by, for each camera setup, creating a custom HDRI map with the highlights where I want them, and use emissive lights only at a low intensity setting to generate reflections in windows/metal parts. I am also creating invisible planes with gradient labels on them for specific reflections. Once the animation is done I will post a link online.

I for one would like to see more renders from everyone. Esp if it's native in Solidworks and not using a plugin. What we need in our workflow is a tool that does good enough otherwise a plug in is necessary.

These renders are all several years old but are all native SolidWorks Photoview 360 with Photoshop retouching/ enhancement.If you're willing to take the time to set up the render and materials, SW can produce excellent results without having to use another package.

I don't recommend Photoview 360 anymore, I have used it a few times but due to the engine the image looks inherently 'tacky' compared to other renderers. Also clients today recognize this quality and will reject your work. Much better to stick to dedicated software for everything you do.